We went back to Nourlangie to see some rock art, and we weren't disappointed...
There are a number of great art sites around Nourlangie, some of them dating back as far as 20,000 years. It was fascinating to see how the paintings changed and developed over time.
We headed down to Nourlangie from Jabiru with Grandma and Grandad, to catch a ranger talk about the art and artifacts that are found in the Anbangbang Shelter. The ranger pulled all sorts of things out of his backpack, including grinding stones, stone spear tips and ground-edge axe heads, all representative of the site we were at. It was fantastic to hear some of the stories that went with the place, as well as be able to see the little round holes in the rock where the grinding stones had been used for so many years. He also had some of the various coloured ochre that produced the different coloured paints used on the wall of this massive shelter.
It was a pretty warm day, but the temperature of the shelter was really quite pleasant, I guess, because of the enormous thermal mass of the rock behind it. It was a little bit hairy getting Grandad up to the shelter over the steep and tricky path, but he did well and that was the worst of the trails we found that day. We walked back to the carpark past another couple of great sites and enjoyed the massive rock formations in the bush along the way. We had to leave the grandparents then, to make our way back down to Cooinda for our animal tracks safari, leaving them to their own devices for the afternoon and evening.
We headed down to Nourlangie from Jabiru with Grandma and Grandad, to catch a ranger talk about the art and artifacts that are found in the Anbangbang Shelter. The ranger pulled all sorts of things out of his backpack, including grinding stones, stone spear tips and ground-edge axe heads, all representative of the site we were at. It was fantastic to hear some of the stories that went with the place, as well as be able to see the little round holes in the rock where the grinding stones had been used for so many years. He also had some of the various coloured ochre that produced the different coloured paints used on the wall of this massive shelter.
It was a pretty warm day, but the temperature of the shelter was really quite pleasant, I guess, because of the enormous thermal mass of the rock behind it. It was a little bit hairy getting Grandad up to the shelter over the steep and tricky path, but he did well and that was the worst of the trails we found that day. We walked back to the carpark past another couple of great sites and enjoyed the massive rock formations in the bush along the way. We had to leave the grandparents then, to make our way back down to Cooinda for our animal tracks safari, leaving them to their own devices for the afternoon and evening.
There were a couple of other sites and longer walks at Nourlangie that we couldn't do on the first visit because of our limited time. So Emma and I ducked down early in the morning before the kids were up, to get some exercise and to try to see some contact art we had heard about in another ranger talk at Ubirr. Apparently there was a picture of a Dutch ship, which was quite amazing to think about, being so far inland.
We stopped in at Anbangbang billabong and had a bit of a funny feeling while reading the sign that said there were commonly crocs sighted adjacent to the footpath we were on. It was lovely to see the sun rising up over the rock wall in the background, and we were thankful for the warmth it provided. From here we ducked up to Narwurlandja lookout for a quick piccie of the Arnhem Land escarpment and the view to the south. We also did a hasty (day beginning to wear on) circuit of some of the other sites and lookouts in the park, but no sign of the ship. Maybe next time...
We stopped in at Anbangbang billabong and had a bit of a funny feeling while reading the sign that said there were commonly crocs sighted adjacent to the footpath we were on. It was lovely to see the sun rising up over the rock wall in the background, and we were thankful for the warmth it provided. From here we ducked up to Narwurlandja lookout for a quick piccie of the Arnhem Land escarpment and the view to the south. We also did a hasty (day beginning to wear on) circuit of some of the other sites and lookouts in the park, but no sign of the ship. Maybe next time...
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